Happy Samhain!
It definitely feels like we're in the 'dark half of the year'. All I want to do is hibernate for the rest of the year. Wake me up in April.
In other news, my brain is EXPLODING. This newsletter is mostly me processing and summarising, fewer quotes than usual. Once again, if you want to read anything paywalled, just reply to this email and I'll share.
I send this fortnightly on Sunday and I don’t collect any data.
Herons in Landscape | Antoine-Louis Barye
The first set of readings deals with two problems with dominant Anthropocene narratives:
the homogenising of humanity and erasure of differentiated responsibilities in climate breakdown
The average American consumes 32 times more resources and energy than an average Kenyan
The narrative of the new, our predecessors didn't know what they were doing
The Anthropocene narrative works in a similar way: if the ‘moderns’ were at fault in disturbing the planet, they must be excused as they did not know what they were doing. They had neither science nor awareness of the global and geological character of their actions. The moderns only have to embrace the anthropogenic gospel to obtain remission of their sins and perhaps even salvation.
both quotes from 'Who is the Anthropos?' (Ch4 in The Shock of the Anthropocene by Bonneui and Fressoz)
The problems with the first are maybe more obvious, like the whole population control line of reasoning. But the second also lends itself to very technocratic arguments and plays right into that same narrative of 'progress'.
Bonneui and Fressoz explain very clearly how both these narratives are inaccurate, and point to "very consistent warnings, knowledge, and opposition" to the practices that have led to what we call the Anthropocene.
'A Geo-Theology of Energy' (Ch 3 in The Birth of Energy by Clara Dagget) goes in-depth into one specific arena in which this happened: Energy. It was frightening to see how much Protestantism and Christianity shaped the scientific developments of that time.
In the seminar, we discussed the problems with techno-scientific superiority, but also the difficulty of scientific skepticism in the time of corona. Too complicated for me to articulate here.
Vultures on a Tree | Antoine-Louis Barye
This week we looked at Capitalism as an ecology, that is, a system of relations and forces.
We read 'The Rise of Cheap Nature' (in Anthropocene or Capitalocene by Jason Moore)
I really enjoyed this text. On my first reading, I didn't fully understand the concept of 'cheap nature' because I didn't properly understand the Marxist concepts and technical terms.
A sidenote here: I find Marxist bros to be supremely annoying and when they start to pontificate, my eyes kind of glaze over. Annoying because the whistle-stop tour was so interesting and it made a lot of things click inside my head.
Once I understood primitive accumulation (somewhat) and the moving parts of M-C-M, the text made a lot more sense. Capitalism relies on the exploitation of work and raw materials, but also appropriating forms of value (human and non-human) that don't count in the value equation.
Nature is 'cheap' because it is cheapened by capitalism. So the ecology of Capitalism is fundamentally Imperialist because it always needs more cheap land, energy, labour, food, etc. Ecological devastation is a feature, not a bug.
The second text was 'Self-Devouring Growth' (Ch1 in Rainmaking and Other Forgotten Things by Julie Livingston). It is a specific tale, a parable, of water in Botswana and primitive accumulation.
There was so much more in the lecture and seminar, my little mind was blown. I am SO fascinated! I shall continue to avoid annoying Marxist bros, but I'm now in the market for a good translation of Capital, so I can begin my decade-long close reading :D
Dune by Frank Herbert
I picked this up the day before the film came out, thinking I'd read the first part of the book (which the movie covers) and ended up reading the whole book in 3 days. I could not put it down. That is not to say I liked it, even if I enjoyed it. There is the colonialism and Orientalism, though there are arguments that this was some kind of critique by Herbert (not sure I agree). I haven't seen the film yet, but I hear the colonialism is even more pronounced.
The thing that stood out most for me is how libertarian it was. In a way, it reminded me of Ayn Rand (I also could not put Atlas Shrugged down, but I hated it intensely). The whole superiority of a trained mind and body: Bene Gesserit but also the warriors and Fremen. Apparently, the hero narrative is supposed to be a warning but it just reads like an epic of the individual.
I love sci-fi for the worlds it can help us imagine. I wouldn't want to live in Herbert's world, even as a witch.
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The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
Audiobook read by the goddess Arundhati herself. It starts with an intersex baby, or Hijra, and follows a collection of characters through decades, across Kashmir and Delhi. You can imagine how heart-rending such a story can be, especially in the hands of Arundhati Roy. Listen to it to hear her read beautiful Hindi and Urdu sentences. I plan to read it again, as text, so I can see the words too.
This is a book I recommend with my whole heart.